Though the big-screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece The Road lacks the dark pull of the novel, it’s duly haunting and emotional, and the one release this week that movie buffs should make an effort to see (so long as they don’t mind feeling depressed). It’s also a strong week for movies about (and from) the art world. The very good documentaries Jack Smith And The Destruction Of Atlantis and Obscene: A Portrait Of Barney Rosset And Grove Press look at an eccentric underground filmmaker/performance artist and the publisher of some of the most controversial books of the 20th century, respectively, while Criterion continues its collections of avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage (and brings Brakhage’s explosively colorful abstracts to Blu-ray for the first time).
All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Collection
BBC Warner, $349.98
Ancients Behaving Badly
A&E, $24.95
Alice Neel
New Video, $29.95
All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
IndiePix, $24.95
Beyond Sherwood Forest
Anchor Bay Blu-ray, $17.98
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vol. 2
Criterion, $39.95
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vols. 1 & 2
Criterion Blu-ray, $79.95
City Of The Living Dead
Blue Underground, $19.95; Blu-ray, $34.95
Class Of Nuke ‘Em High
Troma Blu-ray, $19.95
Costa Rican Summer
First Look, $24.98
Dark Nature
Troma Blu-ray, $19.95
David Cross: Bigger And Blackerer
Sub Pop, $14.98
Dear John
Sony, $28.95; Blu-ray, $34.95
Death Kappa
Tokyo Shock, $19.99
Django
Blue Underground Blu-ray, $29.95
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
New Video Blu-ray, $19.95
Finale
Image, $27.98
Flashbacks Of A Fool
Lionsgate Blu-ray, $17.98
Flashpoint: The Second Season
Paramount, $39.98
George Gently: Series Two
Acorn, $59.99
The Glory Boys/The Contract
Acorn, $39.99
The Guild: Season Three
New Video, $14.95
Hoarders: The Complete Season One
A&E, $19.95
I Know What I Saw
A&E, $19.95
In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great
BBC Warner, $34.98
Jack Smith And The Destruction Of Atlantis
New Video, $29.95
Leverage: The Complete Second Season
TNT, $39.98
Love Games
Mya/Ryko, $24.95
Manhunt: The Complete Series
BFS, $64.98
Marked: The Complete Season One
A&E, $19.95
Mystery Team
Lionsgate, $27.98
No Orchids For Miss Blandish
VCI, $19.99
Obscene: A Portrait Of Barney Rosset And Grove Press
New Video, $29.95
Owl And The Sparrow
Image, $27.98
Rain Fall
Lionsgate, $26.98
The Road
Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $34.95
Royal Pains: Season One
Universal, $59.98
Samurai Princess
Well Go USA, ; Blu-ray, $24.98
Sandok
Mya/Ryko, $24.95
Seven Swords
Dragon Dynasty/Vivendi Blu-ray, $19.97
The Shadow Within
MTI, $24.95
The Shortcut
Anchor Bay Blu-ray, $17.98
Silver Lode
VCI, $14.99
Spartacus
Universal Blu-ray, $26.98
Stagecoach
Criterion, $39.95; Blu-ray, $39.95
Submission Of A Woman
Mya/Ryko, $24.95
Sunsets
Pathfinder, $19.98
Tell Tale
Vivendi, $19.93; Blu-ray, $19.93
Testament
Athena, $59.99
Tromeo & Juliet
Troma Blu-ray, $34.95
True Blood: The Complete Second Season
HBO, $59.99; Blu-ray, $79.98
The Virginian: The Complete First Season
Timeless, $79.98
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism Of Julius Shulman
New Video, $29.95
Waiting For God: The Complete Series
BBC Warner, $119.98
Waiting For God: Season Five
BBC Warner, $34.98
White Wall
Well Go USA, $24.98; Blu-ray, $24.98
The World Of Buckminster Fuller
Microcinema, $24.95